Raising Chico Suave

We had a litter of kittens born at the barn earlier this year. My girls love naming litters of kittens based on themes. At first they tried presidents. But there were six kittens and they could only come up with George. So new theme. How about birds? So the six black and tabby kittens ended up with names such as cardinal, sparrow, and chickadee. What care I about the appropriateness of the names? They are only going to be around until they are old enough to be carried off, and then mama cat gets spayed! (Beware the dangers of setting out cat food even for your own cats! If you put it out, the pregnant cats will move in!) Well, I cared not, until little chickadee decided to spend time inside a truck engine. The truck engine was started and Chickadee jumped out and ran under a horse trailer crying pitifully. I saw the other cats walk towards him to find out why he was crying, and I wondered what happened. But, as is typical of blondes, I was quickly distracted again. About ten minutes later, I walked by the little guy and noticed part of his ear was gone and there was an opening on his back hind leg. I quickly bundled the little guy up in a towel, (completely forgetting the cat carrier I keep at the barn for just this reason!) and off we raced to the vet! I love my vet, he knows that poor people want to have pets, too! So a couple of days later we picked little Chickadee up with a new design on his side and a lopsided ear. He quickly assumed the work of keeping the other cats chased and pounced on. Four weeks later, my husband and I decided that the little guy was here to stay and he was going to need a more masculine name. So Chico Suave is now part of the ark.